Vehicle service providing system

Abstract

A vehicle service providing system includes a vehicle and a server apparatus. The vehicle includes an in-vehicle camera and one or more vehicle processors. The server apparatus includes an output unit, one or more server memories, and one or more server processors. The one or more vehicle processors transmit, to the server apparatus, point group data and patch data regarding the face of an occupant, together with classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle with which the occupant is uniquely unidentifiable. The one or more server processors carry out morphing with the use of point group data and patch data regarding a selected one of sample face images, and the point group data and the patch data generated regarding the occupant, to generate a morphed face image, and allow the output unit to output the morphed face image, instead of a face image of the occupant.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A vehicle service providing system comprising a vehicle and a server apparatus, the vehicle being configured to transmit data to the server apparatus, and the server apparatus being configured to provide a service based on the data received,
 the vehicle comprising an in-vehicle camera and one or more vehicle processors, the in-vehicle camera being configured to capture an image of an occupant of the vehicle,   the server apparatus comprising an output unit, one or more server memories, and one or more server processors, the output unit being configured to output an image,   the one or more vehicle processors being configured to:
 acquire a captured image including a face of the occupant, from the in-vehicle camera; 
 segment a captured region of the face of the occupant from the captured image acquired; 
 generate point group data regarding the face of the occupant, the point group data indicating an outline of the face of the occupant and positions of facial features of the face of the occupant, in the segmented captured region of the face of the occupant; 
 generate patch data with use of the generated point group data as a reference of image separation, the patch data separating the segmented captured region of the face of the occupant; and 
 transmit, to the server apparatus, the generated point group data and the generated patch data instead of the captured image including the face of the occupant, together with classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle with which the occupant is uniquely unidentifiable, 
   the one or more server memories being configured to hold data regarding sample face images, as data regarding face images of random persons different from the occupant to be segmented from the captured image, the data regarding the sample face images including point group data and patch data regarding the sample face images, and being associated with classification data regarding the sample face images,   the one or more server processors being configured to
 select, with use of the classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle received from the one or more vehicle processors, one of the sample face images associated with data corresponding to the classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle, from the sample face images held in the one or more server memories, 
 carry out morphing with use of the point group data and the patch data regarding the selected one of the sample face images, and the point group data and the patch data generated regarding the occupant, to generate a morphed face image, and 
 allow the output unit to output the morphed face image generated by the morphing, instead of a face image of the occupant of the vehicle. 
   
     
     
         2 . The vehicle service providing system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the one or more server memories are configured to hold the data regarding the sample face images in association with vehicle classification data, as the classification data regarding the sample face images, the vehicle classification data including one or both of data regarding regions to which the random persons in the respective sample face images belong, and vehicle specification data in the regions,   the one or more vehicle processors are configured to transmit, to the server apparatus, one or both of positional data regarding the vehicle of the occupant, and specification data regarding the vehicle, as the classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle with which the occupant is uniquely unidentifiable, and   in the selecting one of the sample face images, the one or more server processors are configured to select, from the sample face images held in the one or more server memories, one of the sample face images associated with data corresponding to the positional data regarding the vehicle of the occupant or the specification data regarding the vehicle received from the one or more vehicle processors.   
     
     
         3 . The vehicle service providing system according to  claim 2 , wherein
 the one or more server memories are configured to hold the data regarding the sample face images in further association with vehicle setting data corresponding to physical constitutions of the random persons in the respective sample face images, as the classification data regarding the sample face images,   the one or more vehicle processors are configured to transmit, to the server apparatus, vehicle setting data corresponding to a physical constitution of the occupant, as the classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle with which the occupant is uniquely unidentifiable, and   in the selecting one of the sample face images, the one or more server processors are configured to select, from the sample face images held in the one or more server memories, one of the sample face images associated with data corresponding to the vehicle setting data corresponding to the physical constitution of the occupant received from the one or more vehicle processors.   
     
     
         4 . The vehicle service providing system according to  claim 3 , wherein
 the one or more server memories are configured to classifiably hold the data regarding the sample face images in further association with classification data regarding the random persons in the respective sample face images, as the classification data regarding the sample face images, the classification data regarding the random persons in the respective sample face images being data with which the random persons in the respective sample face images are uniquely unidentifiable,   the one or more vehicle processors are configured to transmit, to the server apparatus, classification data regarding the occupant, as the classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle with which the occupant is uniquely unidentifiable, and   in the selecting one of the sample face images, the one or more server processors are configured to select, from the sample face images held in the one or more server memories, one of the sample face images associated with data corresponding to the classification data regarding the occupant received from the one or more vehicle processors.   
     
     
         5 . The vehicle service providing system according to  claim 4 , wherein
 in the selecting one of the sample face images, on a condition that two or more of the sample face images are selected with the use of the classification data regarding the occupant or the vehicle with which the occupant is uniquely unidentifiable,   the one or more server processors are configured to select one of the sample face images to be used in the morphing, on an additional basis of a degree of similarity of the face images.